Bijin ōkubi-e – Utamaro

Day7/31 – #WorldWatercolorMonth.

Another sketch at the Sackler gallery of ‘Inventing Utamaro’ exhibit. I’m really loving this artist’s ability to portray the image of women with sensitivity and a certain vulnerability. Each one of his okubi-e paintings is different and essentially stunning.

Utamaro is best known for his bijin ōkubi-e “large-headed pictures of beautiful women” of the 1790s. Essentially these are what we would call portraits of beautiful Japanese women, but they are so much more.

I did this sketch inside the exhibit, and then added watercolor sitting outside while the colors were still fresh in my mind.